In general, in a thermal management system of a battery of an electric vehicle, the battery of the electric vehicle will produce heat while working. In order to ensure the normal work of the battery, it needs to cool the battery, and it is common to use the coolant for cooling. A conventional battery cooling device includes a heat exchanger and an expansion valve, a liquid refrigerant enters the heat exchanger after being throttled by the expansion valve, and the refrigerant and the coolant exchange heat in the heat exchanger, thus, the coolant is cooled, and the cooled coolant can be directly or indirectly used for cooling the batteries in the battery pack. After absorbing heat of the battery pack, the coolant has a raised temperature, and then returns to the heat exchanger to be cooled, and the above process is repeated.
In the conventional thermal management system, the heat exchanger and the expansion valve are independent components, and are connected by a pipeline and other means. The heat exchanger and the expansion valve are spaced at a great distance, and the vapor-liquid two-phase refrigerant, after passing through the expansion valve, will change the flow state over this distance, such as vapor-liquid stratification, which will affect the cooling effect. In addition, the pipeline and other connecting components may cause a great weight of the entire assembly, a complicated installation environment, and a poor anti-vibration performance of the whole assembly, is apt to cause breakage of connecting pipes and other phenomena, and causes a high cost.
Therefore, a technical issue to be addressed urgently by the person skilled in the art is to provide an integrated device including a heat exchanger and an expansion valve, and this integrated device has a compact structure, is easy to install, and has a good anti-vibration performance and a low cost.